Poltergeists are notoriously vicious and damn frightening. More than often they are nameless and fill homes with malevolence. But this is not the case in Edinburgh’s most haunted kirkyard or the case with the infamous Mackenzie Poltergeist who roams the grounds and tunnels at night. Don’t get too close to the Bloody Mackenzie’s tomb, or his black-hearted spirit may just strangle you.

Sir George Mackenzie

The Mackenzie Poltergeist is thought to be the ghost of a man who lived in the 17th century Scotland and was nothing less than pure evil. Sir George Mackenzie was a well-respected individual, he was the perfect definition of a proper gentleman as well as a gifted writer and lawyer. He was educated at the King’s College, University of Aberdeen, the University of St Andrews, and the University of Bourges in France. He was a respected member of the Scottish Parliment and the Privy Council of Scotland.

In 1677, Mackenzie became Lord Advocate and served Charles II of England. His primary responsibility was to punish those who rejected the Church of England or those who were disloyal to the King. Many of the men and women who did refuse where members of Scotland’s Presbyterian Covenanters. Scotland was originally meant to remain a Presbyterian country, which was outlined in the National Covenant of 1638. But King Charles II refused.

The King then sent George Mackenzie to do his dirty work. On June 22, 1679, Mackenzie captured approximately 1,200 men at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, all those unfaithful to the king were taken to makeshift prisons in the Greyfriar’s Kirkyard and 400 of them were incinerated. It would later be known as the Covenanter’s Prison.

During the winter the prisoners were captured they were subject to brutal treatment. They were starved, exposed to the cruel Scottish winters and tortured. Some of the prisoners were deported whilst others were executed and buried in Greyfriar’s Kirkyard. This reign of terror was organised and carried out by Mackenzie and he so rightfully earned the title the Blood Mackenzie in later years.

The Bloody Mackenzie was responsible for the deaths of 18,000 people during his eight-year regime. This period would later be called ” The Killing Time “.

On May 8th, 1691, the Bloody Mackenzie died at Westminster and was buried in a tomb at Greyfriar’s Kirkyard. His tomb is known as the Black Mausoleum and 300 years later the legend of the Mackenzie Poltergeist was born.

The Mackenzie Poltergeist

The legend was first told after a homeless man broke into the Mackenzie Tomb as he was looking for shelter somewhere in the graveyard during September of 1998. He tried to open up a coffin, but instead, he fell through a hole in the floor into a burial pit. He awoke amongst a pile of bones from the plague victims of Edinburgh’s past. Horrified he climbed out and ran as fast as he could out of the tomb and graveyard.

Soon after that, two people were visiting the Kirkyard when they felt an eerie presence in the room, a kind of threatening feeling. The first claimed that an icy cold air pushed her out of the room just as she crossed the threshold, whilst the other didn’t have any experiences. She just woke up outside with large finger shaped bruises around her neck, as if she had been strangled.

It has been 20 years since the Mackenzie Poltergeist hit the media and nearly 500 of the visitors have been attacked since then. Mostly they end up with bruises, burns, lacerations or gouge marks. Whilst others faint or become violently sick. Not forgetting all the odd sounds that pour from the tomb despite the fact it’s locked.

A man called Collin Grant did try and exercise the tomb in 2000. He reported that he felt the presence of hundred’s of tortured souls and a definite evil presence. He died of a heart attacks two weeks following his visit.